Happy Valentine's Day

Raspberry Sweetie Pies, these are our Valentine's Day dessert tonight. We are having our dessert from Whole Foods tonight with leftovers from all our dinners this week…isn't that romantic? No cooking for me but we're still eating good food and we're going to do our favorite thing that only happens every two years…watch the Olympics! I LOVED last night with the 3 slopestyle skiers winning 1-2-3 medals, only the third time in history. And all three have such great stories which makes this so inspirational.

Joss Christensen won gold and was skiing with a photo of his dad in his pocket who just passed away in August (makes me want to cry).

Gus Kenworthy won silver and is trying to rescue stray dogs in Sochi and working to bring some home with him, just like I would be doing…apparently, like so many countries, they don't spay or neuter animals in Russia so there is an overpopulation of strays.

Nick Goepper won bronze and is just a super cute 19 year old from the Midwest. He is from a really small town in Indiana of about 5,000 people who grew up practicing in his backyard as a kid and basically turned it into a year-around mud pit. (It can't be easy being a parent of a future Olympian)

I know it is Valentine's Day but we're into the Olympics at this point. And neither Bruce or I feel much like sweets after I made a super sweet dessert last weekend called Ooey Gooey Toffee Bars which is why I didn't feel like making another dessert for Valentine's Day. Doesn't it look good?

It actually was too sweet and I probably won't make it again. I took this dessert to a Disney Dinner Recipe Potluck where everyone brought recipes from a Disney resort restaurant like these Monte Cristo Sandwiches from the Blue Bayou at Disneyland. My Ooey Gooey Bars were from the Liberty Tree Tavern at the Magic Kingdom.

I'd never heard of Disney recipes but apparently they have a cookbook of their recipes from all their resorts, which are more than I ever realized. Here's Mom's Meatloaf from the 50's Prime Time Cafe where we ate when we were visiting Disney World and I included this place in my a post because we loved it so much.

Walt Disney's favorite chili was at the party

and was served in delicious bread bowls.

I loved the way our host labeled all the items so we could see what we were eating and where the recipes were from. Such a fun and clever party.

So, for Valentine's Day, we are eating leftovers from my Chinese Chicken and Beef Stroganoff. I also made Chicken & Dumplings this week - more leftovers.

I didn't post this because all I did was put a chicken in the crock pot, pour in some chicken stock and cook on low. Then I made dumplings, plopped on top after turning it up to high, and let them cook awhile. Chicken and dumplings, so yummy! So, if you want an easy Valentine's Day, there's still time to run out to Whole Foods and get some Raspberry Sweetie Pies while watching an evening of Olympics. We might even make a nice fire in the wood stove.

Meatloaf by Mark Bittman

Once again, I turned on the television yesterday and saw that Mark Bittman was on the Today show and was making his version of meatloaf . This must be meatloaf season. It was surprisingly similar to the Pioneer Woman's version who was also recently on. I was a little surprised of his version because Mark Bittman is into healthy eating and has lost a lot of weight and improved his health by changing his diet which he writes about in his book, Food Matters . His meatloaf recipe also included bacon and cheese! I must be doing something wrong. The thing to remember, which he writes about in his book, is that you can eat healthy without going extreme or changing your whole life. If you don't know who Mark Bittman is, he is a food writer and a four star chef with multiple cookbooks who loves to eat but changed his food philosophy to improve his health. He tells his story in Food Matters and provides ...

Trader Joe's Gluten-Free Oatmeal, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies

I don't have very many gluten-free cookies on my blog because quite frankly, I usually don't like gluten-free. But occasionally, I do find a good recipe and this is one that is from the back of the Trader Joe's oatmeal and it's a good one. My friend brought some over to our house last weekend when Nick and family were here for our birthday celebrations and we all loved them. My friend lives a few blocks away and we walk the neighborhood together on weekends. We can easily go 5 miles in no time, talking non-stop. She loves exploring our neighborhood as much as I do and we discover so many favorite little spots. We even found a property with a horse (or more like a pony, I should say.) The views are always quite lovely, too. Bruce and I had our thirty-ninth wedding anniversary on July 18th and I made a point of walking past the house where we had our wedding reception. I told my friend, "Thirty-nine years ago today, t...

Waking Up in Vegas

and just like that...we were Waking Up in Vegas. Just like the Katy Perry song. We went to her 78th performance which was her second-to-last Las Vegas residency show entitled "Play". That was perfect for us because we went to Vegas simply to play. Her concert was a great finale for us because it was high energy and full of silliness, just the way Katy Perry is. And we were feeling it after three nights in Las Vegas. "Get up, and shake the gutter off your clothes now, That's what you get for waking up in Vegas". Here's what she said about her show: "I created this show after the birth of my daughter, Daisy Dove. When I met her, it was like all the love I was ever searching for finally showed up. This show is for everyone’s inner child and for the hope that maybe if we could all see life through the eyes of a child, we would be free. Because never forget, love is and will always be the key,” she said. We went to Vegas spur of the moment because Br...

Sylvia's Scenario

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